November 2005
Issue No. 384
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Making Waves
Grassroots organizer Damu Smith has spent his life battling against the odds. Now he’s taking on his two biggest challenges: the US healthcare system (or lack of it) and his own cancer.

More stories coming soon...
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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

It was a straightforward request. One of our British subscribers explained that she had a disability and wondered what the lives of persons with disabilities in the Majority World were like. Would NI consider doing an edition about it?

It made immediate sense. Most mainstream coverage about people with disabilities living in the global South seemed to zoom in on particular projects or ‘heroic’ individuals. There was little about day to day life. It was mostly ventriloquistic, talking for ‘the disabled’ rather than letting people speak for themselves.

For me the challenge was quite different. How could one hope to portray the myriad issues that matter to diverse groups of people from different backgrounds with any semblance of coherence? Even within the disability movements there are concerns about who gets to have their say. Class, gender, race can be just as fractious within the disability spectrum.

One thing, however, was clear. The old slogan, ‘Nothing about us, without us’ is just as valid today as when it was first coined. Some of our contributors are first-time writers; some provided us with oral testimonies – all had something compelling to say.

Disability is still viewed as difference, and our response to difference can be somewhat irrational. Disability is actually quite common (about 10 per cent of people have some kind of disability). Many of us who aren’t disabled today will experience it as we age. It’s natural – unlike the attitudes it provokes.

Dinyar Godrej
for the New Internationalist Co-operative dinyarg@newint.org

Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe

The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.

Raised Voices video:

Atossa Soltani from Brazil on the Climate Change

Desmond Desai from South Africa on Corporate Power

Iranian women speak out

3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.

Raised Voices audio:

Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power

Vinayan from India on agriculture